Egg-crate filler



E. c. LORENTZEN.

EGG CRATE FILLER.

FILED SEPT. 27, 1921.

Invenbor T 0 all whom it may concern.

the eggs wereremoved,=-and thef filler'was to be-stored'or reshipped.

Patented Jan. 16, 1923.

' 'UNITED'MSTAT'E'S PATENT :orr-icijz j EDWAR c. LO'ZREN'TZEN, or scnaiv'ron, IO A, i

EGG-snare rILLER'.

Application filed September 27, 1921. Serial No; 503,647.

Be it-known that I, EDWARD C. LoRnN'rznN,

a. citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident ofScranton, in the county of Greene and State ofu-Iowa, have lnvented acertain new and useful Egg-Crate Filler, of which the following is a specification.

cles may bepacked for shipment to avoid breakage, i f

Heretofore ithas been customary to provide egg crate fillers formed of a series or flat pieces of wood fiberboard arranged normally at right angles to veach other. to form a rectangular egg cell :between them and which boards wereso arranged in connection with each other as to "be capable of folding fiat in over-lying positions, 1 when I The object of my invention is to provide an egg'crate-filler ofsimple, durable, and

inexpensive constructionand having all of tl1eadvantages of the egg crate fillers now in common use an-djin addition thereto having the sides of the wood fiber boards :automatically formed -'-with horizontal corrugations when moved to position for receiving eggs and' securely held in said corru'gated :position, whereby-the sidesof the cells will yieldingly engage an i egg at one or more points to securely hold it against movement within the cell even though the eggs vary in size and diameter quite materially from each other and whereby the size of the cell trated in the is regulated or adjusted to the size' of the My'invention consists in the construction of-the wood pulp fiber filler'inembers and their arrangement and; combination relative to each other whereby the obj eots contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims-and illus- I accompanying drawings, in

which:

Figure 1, showsa side elevation of a part of a *filler constructed in accordance-with- -my11nvent1on. r

"Figure 2, shows avertic'al sectional-iview of several :filler members embodying'my "1n vention-and arranged relative to each other as 1111 practical use. In this viewthere are dotted li-nesshowing the positions of the corrugations as adjusted to fit the eggs "which are alsoillustrated by dottedkline's.

My invention relates t the art ofegg crate fillers in which eggs'or similar artimanner.

1 In assembling 'Figure 3,"j shows a perspective-view of a part; of an-egg crate filler embodying invention with the filler members arranged to form cells-as in useyand, r, V

Figure 4, shows a" top'oryxplan view "of a portion of'a filler-embodying'myinventi'on i with an egg therein.

bending the material or in any i'ordinary 'lhese corrugations are indicated by thenumeral l]... e

Each :fill'er member is provided with series of slots or-recesses ofthe kind shown'in F igure 1, in this connection it isrto be understood thatwhen the'filler membersareias" 1 sembled, those that run in one directionihave the slots at: the upper side and thosewrun- Jning in the otheriside have the slotsat -the v T bottom. Each of'thei'slots 'is formed on.

one side with, a straight-edge -portion12ye.

locking tongue '13'havinga bevelededge 14,

below the tongue-is-a vertical edge15 and below-the verticaledge van inclined'edge l6 in one direction and" another inclined edge 17 in the opposite direction. the -oppo-' usite side-of the slotwthere 'isgat the outer ad]acentto itis a beveled portion 18 ex edge a beveled-edge '1HUto form'2guide and tended in an :opposite direction :from the;

part 17 and adjacent to the part '18 is JantionlG-and atthe end of .the part 19 is 'a other portion 19. parallel tothe 'beveled porbeveled -.or inc'lined portion 20' parallel with I the .part 17.'Near'ithe oppositeedge of opening 21yforipurposes hereinafter Y made From the foregoing and upon reference to the drawings it will'be seen that each "fille1jmembe1'-, when viewed'from theend, will have its upper and lower portions straight and in'line with each other, and

near its'central portionthere will bea' single uthecfibeiflfillei' is .a substantiallytriangular rib projecting-laterally in one direction and onthe other side therewill be asingle rib projecting laterally in the opposite direction' any improved jfiller, we filler members arearrang'ecl substantially to enter the notches 21 and thus prevent vertical movement of the two members relative to each other. During this movement of the two members relative to each other from substantially parallel positions to positions of right angles, the projections formed by, the two inclined edges 19 and 20 will press upon the adjacent previously folded or rib portion of the adjacent filler member a and bend it outwardly to the position illustrated in Figure 2; In this manner an upper rib or corrugation is pressed outwardly on one set of filler members by the projecting of shoulders 19 and 20, and another rib or corrugation will be pressed out wardly on the other filler member in the same manner. However, before the locking lug 13 can enter its notch 21 the filler members must be pressed downwardly to a sufficient extent to admit the locking lug into its notch and when this has been done, both the upper and lower corrugations or ribs will have been formed in the filler members and these will be retained because ofthe locking lugs in said ribs so that in practice both the upper and lower corrugations or ribs are present in the filler when it is assembled and in position for use and in addition to this one rib at least on each filler member is positively held in position by one of the shoulders 19 and 20 pressingit into thecorresponding depression formed by the parts 16 and 17,

These egg crate fillers are employed for various purposes and when employed for use in connection with eggs it is well known that the eggs vary to a considerable extentin diameter and it is obvious that the'size of the cells must be at least as great as the diameter of the largest eggs, hence with fillers of the kind now in common use, the relatively smaller eggs will not engage all sides of the cell and will be permitted to move or rattle about, and thus cause breakage due to roughhandling, however with -my improved filler device the corrugations or ribstake care-of the variations in size of the eggs, that is to say, when large eggs are inserted the corrugations or ribs are flattened or extend outwardly as indicated in Figures 2 and 4, just sufficiently to accommodate and fit the egg and when small eggs are inserted they will touch the sides of the corrugations or ribs, but will i not press them outwardly so far, so that all of the eggs are held against rattling or movement'within the cells. After the eggs have been removed the filler members may be folded into substantially parallel positions for packing or reshipment.

lVhen the filler members are assembled as shown in the drawings, each cell will have on one side a single rib projecting inwardly toward the center of the cell beyond the flat surfaces above and below it, and on the opposite side of the cell there willzbe' another rib projecting inwardly beyond the flat surfaces above and below in a. different horizontal plane from the first mentioned rib, so that when an egg of average size is placed in a cell, it will slightly depress" the edge of the inwardly projecting rib on one side, and the edge of-the inwardly projecting rib on the opposite side, but will not touch the filler members at any other points on these same two sides, and the two points of contact between the filler and the egg on said sides willbe on one side above the. center of the egg, and on the other side below it. 1

By, means of this arrangement the operation of removinga set of fillers from the eggs contained thereinis greatly facilitated because the way this is, ordinarily done, is

by grasping the fillerand raising it away from the eggs. ,By means of my improve-: ment the filler member may thus be readily elevated Without carrying the eggs with it,

because the rib on one-side strikes the egg above the center, and the egg is not wedged inplace andjwhen the filler is moved slightly 1 upwardly, then the lower endof-the'e g will be moved laterally by the action oft e lower one of said ribs being moved upwardly, and this may be accomplished thecause the upper one of. said ribs will have:

passed upwardly beyond the widest portion of the egg. In other words, by means of my improvement, the filler will readily; and easily adapt itself insize to engage-and yieldingly hold eggs of varied size,= and at the same time when it is desired to withdraw the filler, this may be readily and the adjacent straight portion, and another rib or corrugation-below itextendedlatere ally beyond the adjacent'straight portion in a direction opposite that of the first mentioned rib or corrugation, and whereby each side of each cell is formed with a single rib or corrugation extended inwardly toward the center of the cell to a point beyond any of the other parts of the cell side.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a series of filler members made of yielding material and arranged at right angles to each other to form cells between them, each filler member having a straight upper portion and a straight lower portion in line with each other, and also having-above its center a rib or corrugation extending laterally in one direction beyond the adjacent straight portion, and another rib or corrugation below it extended laterally beyond the adjacent straight portion in a direction opposite that of the first mentioned rib or corrugation, and whereby each side of each cell is formed with a single rib or corrugation extended inwardly toward the center of the cell to a point beyond any of" the other parts of the cell side. and said filler members being so arranged that'the inwardly projecting rib or corrugation of one side will be out of line horizontally from the corresponding rib or corrugation on the.

opposite side.

3. In a device of the class described, the

combination of a series of filler members made of yielding material and formed with longitudinal corrugations, some of the fillers being formed with slots at one edge and the others with slots at the opposite edge and each set of said fillers being assembled in the slot of the other set, each filler member be-.,

ing formed with a series'of locking lugs and a serles of openings to recelve sald lugs, and sald lugs and openlngs being so spaced ar-' ranged relative to each other that they can filler member formed of flexible material and provided with longitudinal corrugations or folds, and having adjacent at one edge a slot, there being formed within the slot at one side a locking lug 13 and inclined shoulders 16 and 17 there being also formed 7 18 adjacent tothe locking'l-ug and the in clined edges 19 and 20, adj acent to inclined on the other side of the slot an inclined edge,

edges 16 and Y17, there being also adjacent to the opposite edge of thefiller member an opening 21 substantially as and forthe purposes stated.

Des Moines Iowa, May 18th, 1921.

WARD c. LORENTZEN.- 

